The empty tomb
|
|
|
The Easter Season begins on Easter Day and lasts
fifty days, ending at Pentecost. It is a 'moveable feast' because the
date of it is fixed according to the moon - it can fall on or between
21 March and 25 April.
The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week. Traditionally
the Easter Season or Eastertide used to last for the forty days from
Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty
days until Pentecost. Easter
also marks the end of Lent, a season of fasting, prayer, and penance.
Easter is the oldest and the most important Christian festival celebrating
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
|
|
Jesus appearing before Mary
|
|
The dawn of Easter Day or Easter Sunday with
its message of new life is the high point of the Easter festival and
of the Christian year. It celebrates Jesus rising from the dead,
resurrection, and living forever. The church colour for season of Easter
is white (or
gold) and represents the light, joy and purity of Christ.
Jesus had told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be
crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead. On the first
Good Friday Jesus was crucified and after he died his body was removed
from the cross, wrapped in linen and buried in a tomb. A large heavy
stone was rolled in front of the entrance and the guards kept watch
to ensure that no-one could steal the body. On the following Sunday,
the first Easter morning, several women
visited the grave only to discover that the stone had been rolled away
and the tomb was empty. Jesus himself was seen that day, and for some
days afterwards by different people and his followers realised that
Jesus had risen from the dead.
The Easter Garden in the
north aisle
|
|
|
Christians gather together on Easter Sunday for the Easter Eucharist
which is a particularly joyful service. All the
resources of the church are used to celebrate Christ’s resurrection
- music, flowers, bells, colour - and Easter hymns use the word ‘alleluia’
with great frequency. It is not a word used at all in worship during
Lent. The renewal of baptismal vows are also part of the Parish Communion
and the Easter Candle burns at all celebrations of the eucharist until
Pentecost fifty days later. It is the principal symbol of the resurrection
during the Easter season.
St James's, like other churches, makes
an Easter Garden, recreating in miniature the place where Jesus was
buried. This adds to the beautiful decorations in the church for this
most important and significant festival. A stone is placed across the
mouth of a tomb before Easter, then rolled away on Easter morning, leaving
an empty tomb (see above).
Easter eggs symbolise new life and at St. James's there is a basket
of eggs that are given out to the congregation. Have a look at the Easter
Story created by the Jays Sunday School.
|
